The European Neighborhood Policy being a tool for peace
Peace in South Caucasus is very important for the EU. First of all it is important for security. It is important for the EU that its neighboring countries don’t expose any security risks connected with organized crime, terrorism, drugs and sale of weapons. As analyst Georgi Kamov writes in “the EU’s role in the conflict settlement” work, the situation has changed as a result of the EU’s enlargement. “The EU approached the countries of the region, especially Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova. And the security issues of these countries approached the EU as well.” The next important issue is the issue of energetic security. Security in the Caucasus is essential for expending the Caspian oil and gas.
In 1990 the EU signed Partnership and Cooperation Agreements (PCA) with Russia and CIS countries based on dialogue and cooperation. However the PCAs did not include provisions on conflict settlement or security. The situation changed since the enlargement of the Union and Europe declared the strategic security as a priority in the “Secure Neighborhood”, which was based on the following principle: “Develop multi-layer and multi-lateral cooperation with the countries involved in the sectors of politics, economy, culture and security… for the purpose of increasing security.” European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) became a large platform for this goal. Kamov says the European neighborhood indirectly supports the prevention and settlement of conflicts by lobbying standards and values such as rule of law, democracy and human rights.
Europeanization and conflicts
Analysts say the EU’s priority in the foreign policy with the neighbors is the Europeanization.
“The EU develops relations with countries based on the principle reflecting the priorities of the Union. In other words, the European Union encourages the inner changes without suggesting the main prize – membership in the EU,” writes Vetcher and mentions that the fact that the cooperation is limited decreases its influence on the relations with countries generally and the settlement of Karabakh conflict specifically.
EU’s role in the settlement of Karabakh conflict
A number of analysts say even though the European Neighborhood Policy increases the leverages of this institution in the CIS region, its influence, especially in conflict settlement, is not so big. Currently EU’s involvement in conflict settlement policy is conditioned by the ENP. In the end of 2005 the EU started negotiations with three countries connected with the Action Plan. In 2003 the EU appointed Haiki Tavlitie as special representative in the South Caucasus, who was replaced with Peter Semneby in 2006.
The EU’s involvement in the issue of Karabakh conflict settlement is weaker and cannot be compared with the participation in the settlement of the conflict between Georgia and Abkhazia. The EU has not implemented economic aids projects in Nagorno Karabakh and its involvement is mainly limited with the support to the negotiations on part of the Minsk Group. Meantime analysts say that one of the reasons is also the perception of the EU on part of Armenia and Azerbaijan. “For Armenia the EU has a growing significance. Unlike Georgia it is a complementary partner: Armenia is more interested in keeping and developing the relations with Russia, the US and Iran,” says Georgi Kamov, a scientific officer of the European Institute of International Higher Education. He says that Moscow and Washington are more important for Azerbaijan. Anyway the conflict of Karabakh is envisaged in the action plan of the two countries. Many analysts believe the future involvement depends on the results of the current negotiations. Some of them think the EU may be a monitor of this process and be involved in the peacekeeping efforts after the termination of the negotiations and provide material support to the parties. Time will show which one of these scenarios will prevail.
“The European neighborhood policy enables us to rely on the inner and external tools to contribute to the settlement of the conflict and collaborate with our neighbors to struggle against challenges such as terrorism, extremism and organized crime,” writes the head of Eneko Landaburu, the director general of the European Union foreign relations, in his work entitled “From neighborhood to integration”.